8 Tricky "Would You Rathers...?" Answered By Science

3. Have A Constant Pain Or Constant Itch?

Chronic pain and chronic itching are both medically recognised conditions, but which would you rather have?

Pain and itching are actually remarkably similar from a medical perspective. It is thought that both have their own system of nerves separate from the usual ones that we use to sense the world, and it is thought that some chronic itching is actually a type of pain. They're pretty similar, biologically speaking, so we'll have to make this decision based on the psychology of each condition.

Nobody likes to be in pain, and constant, chronic pain can prevent you from doing some of the things you love. It has also been shown to increase the risks of psychological disorders such as depression. However, there are some studies that suggest that patients with chronic pain actually experience an increase in the opioid receptors in the brain that allow us to cope with pain and this can even increase the pain threshold. Due to our (understandable) aversion to pain, we have developed a frankly enormous arsenal of medications to help treat it.

Chronic itching is significantly less studied than pain, which means that there are fewer ways to treat and manage it. If you're itchy, the chances are that you'll just have to deal. Itching might not physically prevent movement and independence in that same way pain does, but there are other stigmas to take into account.

Itching, as you may know, probably means scratching. Chronic itching cannot be properly soothed by scratching and this could even make the symptoms worse. This can lead to damaging scratching and skin picking that can cause scarring, pain, and infection. There is also a social stigma attached to constantly scratching yourself in public that you don't get with pain. Constant itching is also often linked with psychosis, and the itch-scratch cycle can literally drive you mad. Looks like pain actually wins this one, pass the morphine.

Verdict: Have Chronic Pain.